WEBVTT ARI HAIT SPOKE WITH THE VICTIMTONIGHT.HE'S LIVE IN WEST PALM BEACHE,WITH MUCH MORE ON THIS STORY.ARI?>> SO I'M COMING IN RIGHT ABOUTTHROUGH HERE.ARI: STEPHEN CAPLAN WALKED USTHROUGH EXACTLY WHAT HAPPENEDTHE NIGHT HE WAS ATTACKED.IT HAPPENED AT CAPLAN'SAPARTMENT BUILDING, THE ESSEXHOUSE, IN WEST PALM BEACH.IT WAS TUESDAY NIGHT, AROUND9:30.CAPLAN SAYS THE MAINTENANCE MAN,RICARDO GARCIA SANCHEZ,APPROACHED HIM, YELLIN>> HE WAS HOSTILE.HE STARTS COMING AT ME.I WAS LIKE, WHAT ARE YOU GOINGTO FIGHT ME?HE PULLS SOMETHING OUT OF HISPOCKET.I THOUGHT IT WAS A KNIFE, BRASSKNUCKLES.>> THAT'S WHEN HE PROCEEDS TOGRAB ME BY THE NECK, JERKED MYNECK TO HIS HAND, WHICH I WENTLIKE THAT AND CAUGHT A BLADE.LIKE THAT AND CAUGHT A BLADE. >>AT ME FOUR MORE TIMES.CAPLAN HAS TWO WOUNDS ON HISFINGERS SEVEN STITCHES TOTAL.HE SAYS NO WORDS WERE EXCHANGEDBEFORE HE WAS ATTACKED, THOUGHHE STILL KNOWS WHAT THIS IS ALLABOU>> WHERE THIS STEMS OVER,THOUGH, IS DOG POOP.MORE SPECIFICALLY, DOG POOP THATISN'T CLEANED UP.>> IT'S OK.COME ON.CAPLAN HAS A FIVE-MONTH-OLDPUPPY NAMED DAKOTA. A FEW WEEKSAGO, DAKOTA DID HER BUSINESS ONTHE GRASS RIGHT IN FRONT OF THEBUILDING AND GARCIA SANCHEZDIDN'T LIKE IT.CAPLAN SAYS HE NOW WALKS DAKOTAOFF PROPERTY, BUT THINGS HAVEBEEN VERY TENSE WITH GARCIASANCHEZ.BUT HE NEVER THOUGHT IT WOULD

“He was hostile,” Caplan said. “He starts coming at me. I was like, ‘What? Are you going to fight me.’ He pulls something out of his pocket. I thought it was a knife, brass knuckles. That’s when he proceeds to grab me by the neck, jerked my neck to his hand.”

Caplan showed how he raised his hands to protect his neck.

“I went like that and caught a blade,” Caplan said. “After that, he violently swung at me four more times.”

Caplan said he had had no altercation with Garcia Sanchez on Tuesday night but the two had exchanged words in the past.

Caplan believes he knows the motive for the attack.

“Where this stems over is dog poop,” Caplan said.

Caplan has a 5-month-old puppy named Dakota.

A few weeks ago, Dakota did her business on the grass right in front of the apartment building.

Garcia Sanchez didn’t like it.

“He said, ‘Hey, are you going to (expletive) pick that up?’” Caplan said. “I said, ‘I’m not going to (expletive) do anything.’ I don’t live in a world where my maintenance guy jumps me over dog poop.”

Caplan said ever since that night, he has always walked Dakota off the building’s property but things have remained very tense with Garcia Sanchez.

He still never thought things would escalate to a stabbing.

“I’m highly concerned,” Caplan said. “I’m very scared. I don’t want to be here no more.”

Garcia Sanchez is charged with aggravated battery with a deadly weapon. He’s being held in lieu of $50,000 bond.

WPBF 25 News spoke to the property manager at the Essex House. They declined to comment on the stabbing and asked us to leave the property.